Let me tell you the most challenging part of my job. Often, I will delete TikTok and Instagram from my phone because I can’t help but waste time endlessly scrolling through these apps, watching dozens of short-form videos in one sitting. And I’m not the only one.
According to HubSpot’s 2025 Marketing Trends Report, visual storytelling is the new norm. Short-form video content leads the way, with 29.18% of marketers identifying it as the most used format and 21.02% citing it as delivering the highest ROI.
So, why are short-form videos so popular? Turns out there are a few reasons, one of which involved a bit of psychology. Let’s get into it!
Table of Contents
What are short-form videos?
Short-form videos are videos that are less than 60 seconds in duration. However, some marketers and content creators agree that short-form videos can be up to 3 minutes. But, if you want my opinion, I would stick to the 60-second rule.
I take this stance because attention spans are getting shorter, but we’ll get into that later.
Anyway, short-form videos deliver information in a digestible, bite-size format so viewers can quickly watch and bookmark the content if they’re on the go or watch it multiple times.
And, if you’re going to make your content longer than 60 seconds, try to front-load all the important stuff early into the video to make sure more people see what matters most.
Want to learn what else you need to make a successful video? Grab our Free Video Marketing Playbook here.
Why are short-form videos so popular?
There are a few reasons short-form videos are more popular than ever among consumers and marketers, and I‘ll visit those in a bit. For now, I want to get into the psychology of it all — that’s why we’re here, right? Walk with me.
Consumer attention spans are shrinking.
Science tells us that one of the crucial reasons we love short-form videos is that our attention spans are getting shorter and shorter.
Dr. Gloria Mark, a psychologist, recently wrote a book called Attention Span: A Groundbreaking Way to Restore Balance, Happiness, and Productivity, and she says her research indicates people’s attention spans have been shrinking over the last 20 years.
Dr. Mark shared her findings on Speaking of Psychology, an American Psychological Association podcast.
Her findings came from a decades-long experiment she participated in, which was first conducted by shadowing participants and tracking their activities via stopwatches.
“We would record the start time and the stop time,” she explains.
“So you‘re on a screen where you’re working in a Word doc. As soon as you get to that screen, we click start time. As soon as they turned away and checked the email, we clicked stop time for the Word document and start time for the email,” Mark adds.
Over time, logging techniques became more sophisticated as technology advanced, and it only made the pattern of shrinking attention spans clearer.
“Back in 2004, we found the average attention span on any screen to be two and a half minutes on average,” Dr. Mark recalls during the interview. “Throughout the years, it became shorter. So around 2012, we found it to be 75 seconds.”
Dr. Mark says the number continued to dip as the years went on.
“And then in the last five, six years, we found it to average about 47 seconds — and others have replicated this result within a few seconds. So it seems to be quite robust,” she says.
And this trend of dwindling attention spans is affecting how we consume content. And I’m not just talking about SOCIAL MEDIA videos — even television and film shots are getting more brief, according to Dr. Mark.
“They started out much longer. They now average about four seconds a shot length,” she says. “If you watch MTV music videos, they‘re much shorter. They’re only a couple of seconds. So we’ve become accustomed to seeing very fast shot lengths when we watch TV and film.”
Dr. Mark explains during the interview that it‘s a chicken vs. egg situation — she’s unsure which came first or what’s influencing the other.
However, the fact remains that we‘re becoming more accustomed to shorter bursts of content, and it’s bleeding into the kind of content we consume and what’s being created.
Studies found that most consumers will only watch an entire video if it’s less than 60 seconds long. Then you have apps like TikTok, YouTube Shorts, and Instagram Reels that push short-form videos to users in an infinite scroll format.
Short-form content is perfect to consume on the go.
Most of us do most of our online scrolling and shopping on our cell phones.
Watching long videos on tiny screens isn’t usually what we want.
But short videos are easy to watch whenever you have a few minutes, whether you’re doomscrolling on the couch at night or have a few minutes while you wait for your kids to get out of school or their activity.
I’ve often found myself in the swim practice pick-up line catching up on my favorite creators, like Under the Desk News and The Daily Show, and anything else the algorithm brings me.
In my experience on-the-go watching is even easier with apps like TikTok and Instagram, which are designed specifically for mobile experiences.
Short-form videos appeal to emotion and curiosity.
Short-form videos are great at grabbing attention quickly. More on that in #5 below. However, in a nutshell, if you’re aiming for a cold audience that doesn’t have much awareness of your brand or products, you’re more likely to capture them and draw them in.
When you can get people curious or to feel some kind of way, they’re more likely to stick around and ask for (scroll for) more.
Sometimes, it’s humor, like this Steve Carell clip from The Daily Show:
Other times, it’s something that tugs at the heartstrings more.
Short-form videos are easy to share socially.
How many times have you watched a Reel on Facebook or Instagram and immediately shared it on Messenger with your friends?
Here’s one that has made the rounds in my circles.
This is me raising my hand. I send LOTS of them out. My husband and I exchange recipes and things that make us laugh. This Korean Beef Meal Prep idea has me salivating.
One of my friends and I send each other a mix of jokes, work ideas, and things that make us say, “Holy cow, remember when we did this 25 years ago?”
My point is that — whether it’s something funny, a helpful tip, or a motivational moment — when videos are easy to pass along to friends, your content is more likely to go viral.
Speaking of viral — one of the best ways to go viral is by jumping on a trend. Check out these short-form content trends to watch.
Why Brands Should Use Short-Form Video Content
I’ve seen firsthand how short-form video content can transform a brand’s ability to connect with its audience. Anecdotally, I’ve fallen in love with a few new brands and discovered some really great products as a result of TikTok and Instagram.
Do I need that new couch, maybe not — but after seeing short-form content from several brands of gorgeous new sectionals on every platform, all I want to do is cozy up.
The data backs my anecdotal perspective.
According to HubSpot Research, 75% of marketers plan to maintain or increase their investment in short-form video this year. Beyond that, 90.35% plan to do the same with their overall video investment. That’s because these bite-sized pieces of content are becoming a staple in modern marketing.
Whether you’re showcasing a product, sharing a quick tip, or humanizing your brand with behind-the-scenes moments, this format allows you to create content that resonates on platforms like TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts.
Short-form video became 15% more important for marketers over the past year. That’s a huge signal that businesses can’t afford to ignore this format. By piquing people’s interest, you can then get them to interact with more content, whether other short-form videos, long-form videos, or even other types of content.
In case you’re curious, here are a couple more reasons why many of us love short-form videos.
1. They are cost-effective and easier to create than long-form videos.
With long-form videos, marketers and creators must work extra hard to keep their audience engaged. That means strengthening the content with dynamic shots, mood-setting music, and a long but compelling script.
All that takes more time, effort, and (most importantly) money.
Free tools like HubSpot’s Clip Creator leverage AI to create custom, high-quality videos for your business in a fraction of the time. Short-form videos are more to the point and often require fewer frills to be effective.
For example, language learning platform Duolingo’s TikTok account has over 10.8 million followers and is one of the most well-known accounts on the app due to its short, funny, and slightly unhinged videos.
Its most popular video has 57.7 million views and is super simple in terms of execution.
It shows a plushy of the Duo Lingo owl getting tossed down the stairs at the company’s office, sitting outside on a rainy day, and getting soaked in a shower.
The caption of the video is “When you ignore my notifications.”
The video was clearly shot on someone’s smartphone without fancy angles or lighting. The music is from a viral song already available via its sound archives. So simple, so cheap, yet so effective.
2. They can provide valuable information in a short amount of time.
According to a recent Adobe Survey, 2 in 5 Americans use TikTok as a search engine, and nearly 1 in 10 Gen Zers are more likely to rely on TikTok than Google as a search engine.
I even find myself taking to TikTok to look up recipes or figure out how to style a denim maxi-skirt (the trick is to experiment with different layers and silhouettes).
In fact, I follow Mom Generations for easy hairstyle ideas for my daughter, and we watch them together to pick out the day’s hair (when we’re not rushing out the door).
Between work, family, hobbies, and rest — time is precious, and short-form videos allow us to absorb the information we need in under a minute. Who doesn’t love that?
3. You can watch them almost anytime, anywhere.
Bored on the train downtown? Scroll through TikTok. Need to kill some time in between classes or appointments? Pull up YouTube Shorts or Instagram Reels on your phone.
Want to use your 5-minute break between meetings to figure out why everyone is talking about the latest JLo documentary? Let’s circle back to TikTok.
Short-form videos are easy to watch almost anywhere and anytime from our smartphones.
Not only is this convenient for consumers, but it also helps marketers because it means we can repurpose our content on various platforms, knowing someone will see it from somewhere.
4. Each piece of content stands on its own.
I caught up with Debbie Moran of RecurPost, who agreed with this wholeheartedly:
“Short-form video requires no long-term investment, so it feels effortless and stress-free. There’s no need to track a storyline or remember where you left off. Instead, audiences can click, watch, and move on at will. In the end, the content is more accessible, and the viewing experience is lighter and more liberating.”
Whether I’m looking for recipes, short hairstyle videos, homesteading tips and tricks, or something altogether different, each video can stand on its own.
What’s more, you can break up larger ideas with lots of points into smaller stand-alone pieces of content:
5. You can meet your audience where they are.
I know I just shared a bunch of information on why consumer attention spans are shrinking, but Durga Kudumula, Head of Growth Marketing at Designity, has another perspective that I find myself agreeing with wholeheartedly.
“I believe that consumer attention spans are only shrinking when it comes to content audiences aren’t actively seeking. Long-form content still thrives when it aligns with a user’s specific interests or needs.
However, if you’re competing for attention in a crowded space, short-form video has become indispensable. It’s not just about brevity; it’s about meeting audiences where they are — whether they want to be entertained, educated, or both.”
I can relate to this. How many times have I binged an entire TikTok series of updates to get the full story? Or how many hour-long woodworking videos have I listened to my husband watch? (Spoiler alert — the answer is a lot!
As consumers, we’re willing to invest time in what we’re interested in and actively seeking out. But that’s where short-form video marketing can be so brilliant.
Kudumula explains this phenomenon further: “The key is to understand the moment. When audiences are scrolling, they’re often looking for a quick laugh, a compelling idea, or a visual that sticks. Short-form video excels here, providing a fast, cost-effective way for brands to make an impression while driving engagement and conversions — and staying relevant.”
6. Human-driven content is becoming more important.
AI is already changing the way we search and create content, meaning people are seeking out content that is obviously created by other humans. Speaking for myself, it just feels more authentic and trustworthy.
Ivan Venberg, Head of Content at Yango Ads, agrees:
“What will matter is real people (the world of AI-generated content seems to be very close). Thus, for both product and market purposes, short videos featuring real people will likely perform well.”
That said, AI can also be used to help you speed things up, too:
Ready to dive into the world of short-form content?
There are different reasons to love short-form videos.
Some reasons are a little more concerning than others (seriously, why are our attention spans so short?), but no matter the reason, the fact remains the same — short form isn’t going away anytime soon.
Editor’s note: This post was originally published in April 2024 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.
https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/short-form-video-psychology
